Currency and document handling and counting apparatus find wide-spread use such as, for example, in banks and other commercial as well as industrial establishments and in institutions wherein it is desired to count large stacks of sheets which may include, for example, coupons, bank checks, paper currency and the like. It is important to provide apparatus capable of accurately counting and stacking such sheets at high rates of speed.
Paper currency counting equipment is designed to replace the time consuming manual tasks of counting a quantity of bills, of subdividing a quantity of bills into batches, each containing a preselected number of bills, and of certifying the count of a trap of bills. Accuracy is, of course, a primary requirement of operation of paper currency counters.
Previous attempts have been made to provide a paper currency counter machine such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,216 to Lawandy et al. ('216 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,237 to Price et al. ('237 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,540 to Okada et al. ('540 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,802 to Hafezan ('802 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,839 to Yuge et al. ('839 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,840 to Yuge et al. ('840 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,916 to Oka ('916 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,874 to DiBlasio ('874 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,367 to Kondó et al. ('367 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,096 to Buchholz et al ('096 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,771 to Uchida ('771 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 2,494,615 to Hayes ('615 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 2,271,394 to Hayes ('394 patent); U.S. Pat. No. 1,328,263 to Buckley et al. ('263 patent); and, U.S. Pat. No. 1,159,826 to Buckley et al ('826 patent) all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The '216 patent describes a method and system for detecting a presence of more than one item at a point along a conveyance path, comprising steps of (A) generating a light beam and directing the beam through the path such that a presence of the item will cause the beam to be attenuated; (B) detecting the beam after it is attenuated by the presence of the item; and (C) determining from the amount of attenuation how many items are simultaneously present. In the preferred embodiment the item is an item of currency, and the step of generating a light beam includes a step of operating an optical source, such as an LED or a laser, to generate a beam having a wavelength in the range of about 400 nm to about 1 micrometer or longer.
The '237 patent describes a sheet counting apparatus comprising a sheet support for holding a stack of sheets to be counted. A sheet feed device moves the sheets individually from a first position to a second position while they remain held together in the stack. A counter monitors movement of the sheet as it is moved from the first position to the second position, and increments a count when such movement is detected.
The '540 patent describes a bill counter which comprises a case body formed to be a size which can be carried; a display section provided on the surface of the case body; an insertion port provided on one side of the case body which is capable of being expanded/contracted; a taking-out port provided on the other side of the case body; a first feeding-out device which is provided on the insertion port side within the case body and feeds out bills in a bundle inserted to the insertion port by a few sheets; a second feed-out device which is provided on the taking-out port side within the case body and feeds out bills one by one fed out by the first feeding-out device; a driving section which drives simultaneously the first and the second feeding-out devices; an identifying sensor which identifies bills going toward the taking-out port; and a control section which outputs a signal displaying the number of sheets by unit of each bill and the total amount at least to said display section based on the signal from the identifying sensor and a signal which stops the operation of the driving section when a forged bill is detected.
The '802 patent describes a counter for counting the number of sheets in a stack having a rotor which engages in an edge region of the stack and transfers sheets one at a time from one side of the rotor to the other upon rotor rotation. The rotor is mounted on a shaft carried by a carriage arranged for sliding movement on guides. A motor drives a lead screw, whereby the carriage is driven along the guides. The rotor may float on its shaft and its position is sensed by detector; the output of the detector is used to control motor whereby the carriage is driven substantially continuously and smoothly at a rate appropriate for a counting operation being performed.
The '839 patent describes a banknote account and arrangement apparatus, which includes a supply portion for supplying a group of banknotes in the apparatus one after another, a discrimination circuit for discriminating denomination, face, fitness, authenticity, and the like of the supplied banknotes, temporary stackers in which the banknote is stacked in an account mode, closed cassettes coupled to the temporary stackers, open pockets in which the banknote is stacked in an arrangement mode, a RAM for collecting data of the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers, a CPU for verifying the collected data of the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers with known data of the bundle of the banknotes, pushers and shutters for, only when a verification result is correct, stacking the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers in the closed cassettes, and a display portion for displaying the collected data. When an interruption command is input in the account mode, data collection is temporarily interrupted, and an operation in the arrangement mode is performed using the open pockets while storing the collected data.
The '840 patent describes a banknote account and arrangement apparatus including a supply portion for supplying a bundle of banknotes in the apparatus one after another, a discrimination circuit for discriminating denomination, face, fitness, authenticity, and the like of the supplied banknotes, temporary stackers in which the banknote is stacked in an account mode, closed cassettes coupled to the temporary stackers, open pockets in which the banknote is stacked in an arrangement mode, a RAM for collecting data of the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers, a CPU for verifying the collected data of the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers with known data of the bundle of the banknotes, pushers and shutters for, only when a verification result is correct, stacking the banknote stacked in the temporary stackers in the closed cassettes, and a display portion for displaying the collected data. Sensors detect if the temporary stackers are full. When the sensors detect that the temporary stackers are full in the account mode, a stacking destination of the paper money is changed to the open pockets while continuously collecting the data. After the temporary stackers are replaced with empty ones, the banknote stacked in the open pockets are stacked in the temporary stackers without collecting the data.
The '916 patent describes a paper sheet counting machine for feeding paper sheets, one at a time, and counting the number of the paper sheets, includes a circuit for detecting an abnormal flow of the paper sheets. In the circuit, the lengths of paper sheets are detected. A predetermined number of the detected signals are averaged. The newest length value is compared with the averaged value to provide a difference signal which determines whether an abnormal flow of the paper sheet has occurred. The averaged value is renewed to compensate for deviation of the length values.
The '874 patent describes a stacker for handling and counting documents such as, for example, paper sheets, paper currency and the like in which the documents are fed from an input tray through cooperative feeder and stripper assemblies which separate the documents to feed them in a one at a time fashion in a forward feed direction toward acceleration rollers which accelerate the single-fed documents to create a gap between documents moving along the feed path. A gap detector senses the presence of gaps for document counting purposes. An endorser and/or suspect examination detector for examining the authenticity of paper currency may be provided downstream of the first acceleration rollers. The stacker comprises second acceleration rollers cooperating with a guide plate which reverses the direction of movement of the paper documents passing through the endorser station to further accelerate the documents and urge them along a convex guide path and into the pockets of a document receiving stacker wheel assembly which delivers the documents to a stacker tray positioned substantially beneath the infeed stacker to facilitate removal and handling of stacked documents. The machine described by this patent discloses features which automatically halt the machine when it detects counterfeit currency or when it detects that bills have been double fed.
The '367 patent describes a sheet counting machine which has a sheet counting mechanism which is controlled through a coincidence detecting circuit operating to compare a number of sheets counted with a predetermined number of sheets. The coincidence detecting circuit is provided with a mode changing switch and an inverter connected thereto in the output path to relatively reverse a logical level of an output of the coincidence detecting circuit stop mode. The logical level thus relatively reversed is utilized for controlling the operation of the mechanism through switching elements and relay elements. The machine described by this patent discloses features which automatically halt the machine when a predetermined count has been reached.
The '096 patent relates to paper currency counting machines, and particularly to a paper currency counter having a central counting section, a compartment for receiving bills as a stack, and a delivery compartment for receiving counted bills, with means for removing bills singly from the stack, feeding the bills through the counting section, and conveying counted bills into the delivery compartment without danger of mutilation of bills and with assurance that each bill conveyed to the delivery compartment will be counted, together with selectable predetermined count means responsive to the passage of bills through the counting section and adapted to halt the flow of bills to the counting section upon the completion of the selected predetermined count. The currency counter described by this patent includes an “off” switch which immediately halts the operation of its motor upon being depressed.
The '771 patent describes an apparatus for counting bank notes and other similar articles. When bank notes in a pile are fed into a rotary drum having a coefficient of friction much greater than that of the bank notes to be counted and a pressing element having a coefficient of friction smaller than that of the drum but greater than that of the bank notes, the bank notes are caught by the drum one by one from the bottom of the pile and are advanced.
The '615 patent relates to roller-type paper money counting machines, and more particularly to an improved bill-callipering mechanism for use with same. The paper money counting machine described by this patent includes features which automatically halt the machine when it detects that multiple bills have stuck together.
The '394 patent describes a machine for assorting and counting paper money. The counting machine has a generally rectangular form and is divided from front to back by a number of partitions adapted to collecting paper money.
The '263 patent describes a machine for assorting and counting paper money, and is an improvement of the '826 patent. The '263 patent introduces a means to arrest the feeding means when more than one bill is introduced at the same time.
The '826 patent describes a machine for assorting and counting paper money. The machine is adapted to count bills one at a time and is comprised of a feeding means, an electric circuit adapted to be opened and closed by the feeding means, and an operating means for the counter included in the electric circuit.
None of the devices mentioned above describe a paper currency counter which incorporates electronic circuitry to automatically stop the mechanical motor in the event a foreign object is accidentally ingested by the counter.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a paper currency counting machine that can automatically stop operation in the event of an inadvertent blockage.